God is so faithful! So as most of you know, last week was rather tough for me and I was really praying for God to bring something new for me here...well, He answered and in a big way!
I love how God can literally connect ANYONE with anyone, there are no limits in what He can do. So when I worked in Houston last summer I met the President and VP of the organization. They were a husband wife team and they had told me at that time that they were planning on leaving the organzation and joining a new org that works in India. So I hadn't really talked to them at all since last summer but last week I got a facebook message from her saying that she was reading my blog and saw I was in Pune and she said she had many great contacts for me here. She gave me the names of a few people and said I would benefit greatly from contacting them. Ok, so Matt 2 months ago might not have even done anything with this offer just because it seemed a like a long shot and it was pretty random, but I felt like I really needed to contact them and see what they were doing. She gave me two girls names and so we starting talking on facebook. THey told me that their father was the president and pastor of this church/development program called Hindustani Covenant Church. They briefly described what they do, saying that they have many different projects throughout the city and throughout all of India. Project include work in the red light district, child labor, slums, mircofinance and more. I was very intrigued to say the least! I asked if there would be a time to meet with their father and talk about what I could see and they said I could come to their church on sunday morning and worship with them and then talk to him after. Sounded great! Then they added, "oh yeah, but the whole service is in Hindi!" Woah! Even though I hardly know ANY hindi, I decieded this would be a great learning experience and a great chance to grow and be a little uncomfortable! So Sunday came around and my host dropped me off at the church. Of course I was early and hardly anyone was there, but i just sat down near the back and waited. The service started promptly at 9 and there was still no sign of the people i was looking for. I realized I didn't even know what they really looked like so i was hoping they would find me (which wouldn't be too hard, since I was the only white person there!) Finally after about 20 minutes into the service a lady came up to me and said "are you Matt?" I said yes and she told me to come up near the front and somone would translate for me. Initially the thought of someone translating the whole service to me made me feel a little awkward, but she led me to this nice man who quietly gave me the play by play throughout the service. The service lasted over 3 hours, and despite not really understanding any of the words, I really felt God's presence there. It reminded me of how big God really is; I loved seeing people worshiping the same God that I do in a totally different language. It just was a nice reminder that we live in a big world and the way we worship may look and sound different but if we are all worshipping the same Jesus, then it doesn't matter! I loved just being there and getting to worship with them. During the long prayers I decieded to pray my own prayers since I couldn't understand what they were saying...it was a nice time to talk with God. Even though the service was pretty different, I still felt like the general flow of the service was similar to my church at home.
At one point in the service, when they were talking about all the ministries they support and help, they showed a video of some Christians in East India being beaten and persecuted. I guess I knew things like that happened all the time around the world, but seeing the very graphic video of Muslim extremists kicking, punching and beating the Christians was very hard to swallow. About a minute into the video as tears were coming down my face, I had to turn away. I think those images will forever be ingrained in my mind. It was such a stark reminded about how free we really are in America. It almost disgusts me. We have so much freedom and we daily take it for granted...I know feeling guilty for the life God has blessed me with is not the answer, but it is hard not to ask that question; God why do I have so much and so many others have nothing?? That is a question I will probably always grapple with... If not guilt, things like this remind me of the responsibility I have to use my gifts and freedoms to help those who are suffering. Later that day, those images still haunted my thoughts as I wondered to myself, If I was torchured and beaten just because i was a Christian, would I still be one? I mean my first instinct answer would be Yes of course...but I really had to think about deeply about that after seeing that video. We have NO idea what it is like to be persecuted for our faith...if it wasn't so "easy" to be a Christian in the states, I really wonder how many people would still choose to follow Christ. I think we often forget that being a Christian doesn't mean everything becomes easy. Jesus suffered. period. And if we are called to follow in his example, we have to be ready to suffer as well. I am not saying we should go out and hurt ourselves or something, but we need to know that with the joy of truly knowing Christ come suffering and pain and many hardships. I know personally, my faith has grown only because of sufferings I have endured during my life.
Ok, anyway, back to the story...so after church I met the family of the pastor. They have three girls around my age, 2 of which are going to college in Chicago. The mother offered for me to come back to their home and have lunch with their family and talk there. I graciously accepted and we all headed back. After getting to their home, I stared talking with the pastor and asking him about what he does. WOW! I didn't realize just who i was talking to...He was the president of this HUGE development organzation that literally works all over the country and is headquatered here in Pune. He explained to me their different projects and their vision. I was blown away. How was it possible that God could someone bring me into the living room of this family who was doing all the things that I am so passionate about!?! The next thing I know, he told me that he would arrange people to take me around to all the projects in the city the next two days!!! So lets just recap here; one day prior, I didn't even know these people and now they have graciously let me into their home, served me ameal, and told me they would bascially take me around for the next 3 days!! God is so good!
I had just been praying for a little change. I love working at the shop, but something inside of me wanted to see more of the city than just the nice area that the shop is located. I knew people were suffering in this city and I really wanted to see and learn about that side too. Could I have gotten a better answer to that prayer? I am still a little blown away if you can't tell!
Ok, so the next day I met 2 of the daughters and 2 other men from the church at the church and we set off to visit some of the projects. Today they said we would head to the redlight district and see what they were doing there. They explained that they work with prostitutes, eunichs, transgender and male prostitutes. We drove into the old part of the city and met a woman there who they said was in charge of the projects. She led us a little ways walking and then we reached the area in which she worked. Immediatly, women dressed in scandolous clothing began to approach us and even got a little aggressive, grabbing my hands and pulling me their way. I'm not going to lie, I was pretty uncomfrotable at first. We walked through them and then walked into one of the houses. There the woman in charge showed us what they do; they pulled out many big posters with which had information about safe sex and health education for the people there. They realize that while they would like to see the people working in that area to walk away from the sex business, they know that they make too much money and it takes a long time to actually make the change. Because of that, they focus a lot of health education and safe sex habits with the women. After we left that house, I was talking with one of the guys who was taking me around. He told me that the women who was in charge of the project who had just gave the presentation used to actually be a prostitute and was a transgender! She turned away from that work and later joined up with this church to help them with this ministry!! SHe actually lives on the street we were walking down! That blew my mind... what a witness to those other women. The church would have no way of entering this part of town as they told me it was very dangerous. But with this women, she has the respect of the girls and has had much success because she knows what it is like! wow! Later she led us into some of the sex shops that girls work in. They showed us the little rooms where people come to have sex with the women. I was thinking that what an unique look into this world I was getting to see, something that most people would never experience. Because all the sex workers respected her so much, we were allowed to enter freely into many other places of "business". At one point we walked into one place and a transgender man was putting on his/her makeup...the lady looked at me and said very bluntly "this is a man, putting on make-up..would you like to take a picture??" I politely denied, but had to laugh a little to myself at the way she asked. After we finished going around, we were led out of the area by two eunichs that help with the project. By the end of the day, I didn't really see them as being different, they were just people, working for the Kingdom of God in a really unique way. Most people in India shun those people, so it was funny to see the reaction of the people on the streets as they saw us walking and talking and sharing some mangos with them. Overall, it was a very uncomfortable but amazing day! I was excited to see what the next day would hold!
The next day I met the girls again at the church and we headed off to the slum projects they had. We drove quite a while but finally reached one slum area. They explained to me that many children in the slum are forced work even from a very early age in the markets and surrounding areas. They have a child labor project in which they provide an informal school for those children in which they teach them about the importance of education and more importantly they just love the kids and allow them to be play and have fun like children should. These kids were foreced to grow up way before they should have, so these schools are there to help them regain their childhood. We walked into a small one room building that they said used to be a temple but was converted into a small classroom for these child laborers. They began to sing songs and do dances around the room and of course wanted the guests to join in. I love getting to see children play and sing, it is such a powerful reminder of how we should live out our lives. Children always challenge me to live in the present. After they danced the teacher passed out old newspaper and the kids began to intensely pass it out amongst themselves. I didn't really know what they were doing with it until all of a sudden I was flooded with hand made flowers, boats, houses, planes and hats! Each child so eagerly trying to give me their creation. I literally couldn't hold all of the beaufitul crafts as every single child rushed up to me just to get their moment to show me what they had made. It was a very awesome moment. We said good bye and went on to our next stop.
Next we visited another slum where they were working with a micro finance program. Here we met with a woman who was in charge of their program and she explained (through an interpreter) what all they were doing. And let me tell you, they are doing A LOT! SHe said they give loans to many women to start their own small businesses, like sewing or craft making. THey also have a dozen of so Self Help Groups, where about 15 people come together, all bringing some money and then they start a business together. They are trying to teach the people the importance of saving their money and they have even connected many of the self help groups to local banks where they can recieve even larger loans to continue to grow their business. We met many women who had participated in the programs, most of which were proud to tell me that they had paid off their loans and their businesses were growing! Wow, how inspiring! They were doing many other educational classes, and also had many health clinics that were run through this program. I was so encouraged to hear about all the things this project was doing. We also visited a school in which the church was very active in supporting students. They were so gracious and offered us lunch and took me around to all the oldest classes to tell the students "good luck on your exams"-- the principal said they would love to hear that from a student from the U.S. ha! As we wer leaveing some of the girls from the school were recieving awards for winning some competition. They stopped the little cerimony when they saw me and said that the "foreigner" should distribute the awards. So I gave out the prizes to the girls who all graciously said "thank you sir" and then took pictures for the school! Pretty funny actually, but i was honored to help!
I still can't believe what I got to do these past three days... I mean these people literally dropped everything for someone they didn't know and took me around to see all these amazing things. What I thought would be a pointless "contact" turned into something so huge and something that will stand out for me when i think about my trip. I am so glad that I got to experience both "sides" of Pune. What a gift from God!
Ok, that is all for now! I have officially hit the less than one week mark for my time in india. I will be heading back to the states on the 15th. I can't believe that I have been here for 2 months. It has really flown by...but at the same time when i think about all the things I have seen and done, the list is long and almost overwhelming. My host joked today with me saying that I have "over-exposed" myself...ha I feel little bit like that sometimes, but I would much rather feel overexposed than under! I can't wait to see what these last few days hold!
Love you all!
